Stories from Winnie the Pooh

Although Milne wrote mostly plays and novels, the Pooh stories remain his best known work. For those not familiar with the wonderful way of writing of Alan Alexander Milne, I have selected extracts from his Winnie the Pooh stories to give you a quick impression. The first of these is two parts from 'In which Pooh goes visiting and gets into a tight place', the second chapter from 'Winnie-the-Pooh', which was first published on October 14, 1926 by Methuen & Company. Secondly, two parts from 'In which Tigger comes to the Forest and has breakfast' and thirdly, two parts from 'In which it is shown that Tiggers don't climb trees,' chapter two and four from 'The House at Pooh Corner,' published on October 11, 1928.

Pooh always liked a little something at eleven o'clock in the morning, and he was very glad to see Rabbit getting out the plates and mugs. Having a mouthful of something at Rabbit's is very nice indeed, but squeezing back out of the front door again is quite another matter. When Pooh finds himself a Wedged Bear, there's nothing to do but wait until he gets thin again. Oh Bother!

Pooh was just going to say 'Hallo!' for the fourth time when he thought that he wouldn't, so he said, 'Who is it?' instead. 'Me,' said a voice. 'Oh!' said Pooh. 'Well, come here.' So Whatever-it-was came here, and in the light of the candle he and Pooh looked at each other. 'I'm Pooh,' said Pooh. 'I'm Tigger,' said Tigger. And that's the beginning of some very bouncy stories.

'Can they climb trees better then Pooh?' asked Roo, stopping under the tallest Pine Tree, and looking up at it. 'Climbing trees is what they do the best,' said Tigger. 'Much better then Pooh.' 'Could they climb this one?' 'They're always climb trees like that,' said Tigger. And indeed, climbing trees is what Tiggers do best....but coming down is quite another matter!

Just Pooh ran an exciting story and fan-fiction competition in early 2008. To enter, fans needed to write a short Pooh story, poem or recipe. We received many wonderful entries and you can enjoy these stories and poems on this page.